World Events Reagan: Tear down this wall!

Remember this? Ronald Reagan challenged Soviet Union president Gorbatsjov to tear down the barrier between East and Western Germany. The Berlin wall was built in 1961 by Communists to keep Germans from 'escaping' the communistic East of Berlin into the Democratic West. Gorbatsjov wanted a change for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe but the Berlin wall was still there as a decade old symbol of the Cold War.

Part of the speech:

And now the Soviets themselves may, in a limited way, be coming to understand the importance of freedom. We hear much from Moscow about a new policy of reform and openness. Some political prisoners have been released. Certain foreign news broadcasts are no longer being jammed. Some economic enterprises have been permitted to operate with greater freedom from state control.

Are these the beginnings of profound changes in the Soviet state? Or are they token gestures, intended to raise false hopes in the West, or to strengthen the Soviet system without changing it? We welcome change and openness; for we believe that freedom and security go together, that the advance of human liberty can only strengthen the cause of world peace. There is one sign the Soviets can make that would be unmistakable, that would advance dramatically the cause of freedom and peace.

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